Enlightenment Through Understanding

Jim Goad on Millennials

It’s weird how this article came a just after my part three in the Smartest Generation series, where I also discuss the millennials, but in a more favorable light.

In a series of articles, The Smartest Generation Part 1, 2, & 3, I argue that the millennials, because of a higher IQ and better education, are less brainwashed and more receptive to controversial, politically incorrect ideas than earlier generations. While not outright labeling themselves HBD proponents, many educated young adults on Reddit at least acknowledge the validity of biological determinism and that many social problems, such as crime and poverty, have a non-trivial biological component. In the Steven Pinker v. Gladwell IQ debates, Gladwell’s biggest critics came from sites like Reddit and 4chan, because they knew he was full of shit, and correctly so.

Are we in a dark age as Jim Goud says we are? I hate to be the bearer of good news, but more like an age of enlightenment – a technological and free market Renaissance of unending innovation, knowledge and wealth creation. Seems like the left wants America to be doomed, because they have no faith in humanity. The Grey Enlightenment represents republican, libertarian, and HBD minded people who don’t wish to go down ‘we are doomed’ path of thought, because there is a lot to be optimistic about, especially in the fields of biotechnology and physics where, with the help of technology, a lot of discoveries are being made, many of them in the past few years alone. Uber, Snapchat, the stock market at historic highs, Bay Area real estate surging, the discovery of the Higgs Boson, and the detection of gravity waves from Big Bang.

Everywhere you look, smart people are making cool discoveries and technologies, sometimes becoming rich and famous in the process. Through the free market, America, more than any other country, rewards high-IQ and work ethic. Social Darwinism means those who create value are rewarded with capital and those who don’t fall between the cracks, and again, America, more than any other country, optimizes this. Despite some moral decay, America is an HBD experiment that is succeeding, and that is something the alternative right should be happy about. Yes, the left is winning the cultural war, but they are losing the economic one. Maybe it’s better to placate the masses with stupid entertainment than have them running around destroying stuff.

They start with one flawed premise—equality, which is a laughably obvious lie—and embrace it as an untouchable truth.

I dunno if Mr. Goad can make such a generalization about an entire generation. From my own discussions with millennials, few actually seem to believe in the concept of literal equality. Being well versed in economics and biology, they know some people will have superior outcomes to others due to a combination of genes and work ethic, not because the government isn’t spending enough to guarantee equal outcomes. They celebrate free market success stories, such as Tesla and Facebook, rather than begrudge them.

Goad’s article alludes to generational/culture clash between working class people of older generations who perceive the millennials as being pampered and ignorant, which some certainly are, but you cannot generalize all of them that way.

Ironically, despite its diversity, America is more divided than ever, and these divides run deep economically, politically, ethnically, and culturally. Even age. Besides a flag and some religious institutions, there isn’t really much that unites Americans, so we, as a country, splinter into little factions, wanting nothing to do with each other.